The present disclosure generally relates to semiconductor manufacture, and more particularly to a plasma processing chamber that includes a dynamic chuck and coil configuration to reduce local effects of the processing chamber and improve etch uniformity across a wafer during processing.
Integrated circuit (IC) fabrication involves forming component devices such as transistors, diodes, capacitors, and resistors on a semiconductor wafer. Plasma etching is the primary method for removing material from the surface of the wafer in semiconductor manufacturing. Generally, a plasma is ignited in a processing chamber to generate highly energized ions that are accelerated toward the wafer surface by a strong electric field. These ions physically and chemically remove the unprotected wafer surface material by a bombardment-etch action. Various processing parameters, such as radio frequency (RF) power, RF bias, temperature, pressure, and flow rate are optimized to accomplish a desired etching result.
Etch uniformity measures the capability of the etching process to evenly etch across the entire surface of the wafer. Maintaining uniformity across the entire wafer surface is very important to achieve consistent manufacturing performance. However, local effects of the processing chamber such as chamber geometry and size, and coil design and placement may cause non-uniformity because the plasma density and electric field generated within the processing chamber may not be uniform across the entire wafer surface. What is needed is a simple and cost-effective apparatus and method to compensate for non-uniformity caused by local effects of the processing chamber.